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Am J Hum Genet. 2003 Dec;73(6):1271-81. Epub 2003 Nov 5. Related Articles, Links
Predisposition locus for major depression at chromosome 12q22-12q23.2.
Abkevich V, Camp NJ, Hensel CH, Neff CD, Russell DL, Hughes DC, Plenk AM, Lowry MR, Richards RL, Carter C, Frech GC, Stone S, Rowe K, Chau CA, Cortado K, Hunt A, Luce K, O'Neil G, Poarch J, Potter J, Poulsen GH, Saxton H, Bernat-Sestak M, Thompson V, Gutin A, Skolnick MH, Shattuck D, Cannon-Albright L.
Myriad Genetics, Salt Lake City, UT, 84108, USA. victor@myriad.com
Major depression disorder is a common psychiatric disease with a major economic impact on society. In many cases, no effective treatment is available. The etiology of major depression is complex, but it is clear that the disease is, to a large extent, determined genetically, especially among individuals with a familial history of major depression, presumably through the involvement of multiple predisposition genes in addition to an environmental component. As a first step toward identification of chromosomal loci contributing to genetic predisposition to major depression, we have conducted a genomewide scan by using 628 microsatellite markers on 1,890 individuals from 110 Utah pedigrees with a strong family history of major depression. We identified significant linkage to major depression in males at marker D12S1300 (multipoint heterogeneity LOD score 4.6; P=.00003 after adjustment for multiple testing). With additional markers, the linkage evidence became highly significant, with the multipoint heterogeneity LOD score at marker D12S1706 increasing to 6.1 (P=.0000007 after adjustment for multiple testing). This study confirms the presence of one or more genes involved in psychiatric diseases on the q arm of chromosome 12 and provides strong evidence for the existence of a sex-specific predisposition gene to major depression at 12q22-q23.2. |
